From thirty yards in to the cup is the decisive area of any golf hole. It is here, most of the time, that the score on the hole is determined. In this area, at point-blank range so to speak, the hole is finished off smartly or it is ruined. Often a bad start from the tee or a poor second shot is atoned for by a brilliant approach and/or a fine putt. More often, unfor­tunately, the advantages of a good start and adequate play through the fairway go up in smoke because of the approach­ing or putting, or both. The only time the golf short game, in one or another of its phases, is not important is when we hit a long shot to within inches of the pin. How often does this  happen?

The golf short game is a forte of the touring pros. Realizing its value, they work on it continually, especially their put­ting. They use the golf short game primarily for the birdies they need if they are to win or stay in contention, and, secondly to make up with a par for any errant shot off the tee or through the fairway. The pros need the golf short game to turn 72's into 66's and 67's, for they will hit from 12 to 17 greens in par figures in the course of a round.

How much more valuable, then, could a good golf short game be to the average golfer who goes around in from 95 to 105 and hits only two or three greens in par? Think of the shots he could save with a game around the greens that was not brilliant but just reasonably reliable. Imagine how his scores would drop if he could get the ball in the hole in three shots instead of four from twenty or thirty yards, if he frequently took two from the edge instead of three, if he got out of green-side traps in one instead of two or three, and if he holed the two- and three-foot putts he now often misses?

Well, a reliable golf short game can be developed, though like any other phase of golf it takes work. This, though, calls for technique of a different kind and work of a different kind. It calls for the development of touch, rhythm, and judgment, as distinguished from comparatively big and violent body and arm action to gain club speed and power.

Aggravating as the golf short game can be when it lets us down, it has two good points. Not much room is required to prac­tice it and no great strength is necessary to become proficient in it. Any high-handicap player can develop a golf short game as good as the club champion's with work, though neither could ever get his distance off the tee.

As we see it, the golf short game falls, into four categories: the short pitch from thirty yards down, the green-side trap shot, the chip from the fringe, and the putt.

For the average player the primary object of the approach and the trap shot are to get the ball on the green. Just that alone. For the better player the object is to get the ball close enough to the cup to get down with one putt. Yet the club to be used and the basic manner of playing the shot are the same for both. The difference in objectives is possible because the good player has better control through his su­perior execution and confidence.

(The Short Pitch)

The average player should play the short pitch with a lofted club, an 8 or 9 iron, he should aim always for the opening (assuming there is one), and he should in nearly all cases play it so that the ball lands on the putting surface, rather than rolls onto it.

With the 8 or 9 iron the shot is a lofted pitch that will run a little distance after it hits. The loft of the club will give it some backspin, if it is struck only well enough to get it into the air. The spin, plus the fact that it is lofted and so will descend at a rather sharp angle, will prevent it from running very far.

If the opening is at the left, let us say, and the pin is on the right behind a trap, the average player should still hit for the opening. That is the safe way. The good player will go for the pin and the chance to get down in one putt.

We advise using the 8 or 9 iron on the shot rather than the wedge because the average player is more likely to be familiar with the 8 or 9. The wedge is not the easiest club in the bag to handle, and this is an important shot that should be made with the club in which the player has the most confidence and which he uses oftenest and best.

The shot should be made to hit the putting surface, rather than the approaches to it, because the ball's action on the putting surface is more dependable. The approach or apron might be rough and the ball could take a kick, right or left. It could be soft or heavy and the ball could stick there. Or it could be harder than the green and the ball could run much farther than anticipated. The only time it is ad­visable to deliberately play to hit short is when the pin is set close to the front edge of a small green.

For the short pitch the stance should be somewhat open and narrower. the heels only a few inches apart. The knees  should be bent more than usual with the buttocks in the beginning of a sitting-down position. If a kitchen stool, for instance, were moved in behind the player, he would be just about in position to sit on it. The whole idea of this stance is that we are making a much shorter shot than usual and one calling for more accuracy.

And here, the grip changes slightly too. The right hand remains the same but the left should be turned to the left a little more, so that only one knuckle is visible instead of the customary two, and the left thumb is down the top of the shaft instead of a little across it. This is for accuracy, a brace against turning the hands to the left and pulling the shot. If we slice it a little, it won't matter and besides the ball will come down with more spin on it. But if we pull it, the ball will run and may get us far from the pin. The grip, of course, should be shorter: the hands halfway or more down the gripping area.

Now for the stroke itself. Although a sense of rhythm is im­portant in all shots, it becomes increasingly so the shorter the shot gets. We are down now to a point thirty yards or less from the green, and this shot is almost all rhythm, as distinguished from the wind-up-and-hit shot.

Figs. 42A, 42B. The wrong way to hit the short pitch. Driving the club head at the ball and stopping the hands "stings" it, making it take off lower and run after it hits.

By rhythm in this context we mean a deliberate, even, backward-forward swing­ing of the hands, more like the" movement of the pendulum of a clock.

The fatal flaw in the short-game action of the average player is the striking of a quick, hard blow, with, the hands stopping and the club head stopping almost as it hits the ball, often digging into the ground. With this kind of stroke, contact with the ball must be extremely accurate and the timing perfect. There is no margin for error. Then, too, we do not want to "sting" the ball, because it leaves the club head fast, and, if struck squarely, is liable to run past the hole. If it is struck the least bit heavy, it pops up and lands short, probably in the trap or the water it was supposed to go over.

Figs. 43A, 43B. The right way to hit the short pitch of 40 yards or less. The hands go through and the ball rises in a lazy, floating action and drops softly.

The technique for this short pitch is the same, funda­mentally, as for the full shot, except that it is in a modified form. Again we have the backward wrist break; with this short shot it takes the club straight back from the ball. Again the face stays square on the backswing, and again the wrists break early. But the break is not as sharp nor as pronounced as in the big swing. Since the swing is slower the break is slower, and since the swing is much shorter the break never is complete. It is, in short, the same as for the big swing but in miniature—slowed and reduced.

So, in making the stroke, break the wrists as the hands are swung away from the ball, but break them easily and smoothly, with no attempt to break them all the way. Then swing the hands forward and past the ball. They should go through with a slight flex still in the wrists so that the hands go through the ball slightly ahead of the club head.

Since you are gripping the club down the shaft for this short shot, you will notice that the end of the club will be almost against the left forearm. It should still be there at the end of the stroke. It will be if the hands go through first. If you flick the club and the head goes through first, the end of the club will move away from the forearm. This is an infallible check point..

The club head will take care of itself if we will only let it. The great difficulty with this shot, as well as with the full shots, as we have already said many times, is that we insist on trying to make the club head do something. All that is necessary is to make our hands do something.

Since this is largely an arm and hand shot, there is little body movement. Don't try to stop what there is, though, especially whatever there may be in the shoulders.

In this shot, as in the chip from the fringe and the putt, the thought should always be that the distance is governed by the length of the backswing, never by the amount of force put into the forward swing. And we must always go through this shot with our hands, so that roughly the length of the follow-through and the length of the backswing are the same, with the left wrist still straight at the finish. Never let it collapse.

If you will watch the pros with this in mind, you will see that this is the way they play the shot. We cannot stress too strongly that it should be played this way and no other. It is, again, not the natural way to play it. The natural way is to take the club back a short distance and drive it into the ball, trying to govern the distance of the shot entirely by the force applied. This mistaken tactic, which "stings" the ball, has accounted for more bad short pitches than any other one thing. In the correct shot the ball is not stung. Rather, we should have a mental image of it floating slowly through the air.

The whole swing should be made deliberately, never hurried; but in being deliberate guard against looseness. The two, unfortunately, seem to go together.

A word of warning may be necessary here. The rhythmic shot does not in any sense mean a scooping effort. The ball should be struck just slightly before the bottom of the arc is reached and no effort whatever should be made to lift it. The loft of the club will get the ball up, as it always does if you give it a chance.

Development of the rhythmic type of swing will take some time, especially if you are a confirmed hitter, as most players are. But with practice the feel of it will come. The time you spend on it will be well repaid.

The Chip

The chip shot, by which we mean the run-up played from inches to six feet off the putting surface, can be the greatest stroke-saver in golf. It is here that the good player takes up the slack of an approach that is just a little short, or one that misses to either side by a little, or one which rolls barely over the green. Here is the place the pro or the good amateur shows his class and draws ahead of his high-handicap or only moderately good playing companions.

Take, for instance, a hole measuring 420 yards. This is usually a tough par 4. The 12-handicap player isn't long enough to reach the green in two but he can get there in three, and two putts give him a 5. The pro can usually get home in two easily. But sometimes he will miss the green by a few feet. He then chips close to the hole and drops his putt for a 4. If this goes on for ten holes during a round, the pro could be as much as ten shots ahead even though the 12-handicapper doesn't miss a shot. What it comes down to is that the good players are adept at rolling three shots into two; the poor ones aren't.

How often have you heard a player bemoan his golf short game? "I had an 84, but five times I took three to get down from the edge." That's the story of many a swollen score by pretty good golfers—three from the edge. Don't think the pros don't lose their touch around the greens too, at times. Then they come in grumbling that their 72 should have been a 69. But by and large the good player's superiority is just as manifest around the greens at it is on the tees.

The mental approach to the chip shot should be to regard it as a short pitch. That's what it is. We employ the same grip, the same general stance, and the same swinging action. The only differences are (1) that the club is gripped shorter, (2) that since we are riot going to move the ball as far, the swing is shorter, and (3) that generally a less lofted club should be used.

The grip is taken farther down the shaft for the chip because it brings the hands closer to the club head and thereby gives us better control. Since this is a precision shot, we want all the control we can get.

Although the swing is shorter, the swinging action is exactly the same. With the one-knuckle grip and the thumb down the top of the shaft, the club is taken back in a straight line. The wrists flex slightly. Then the hands go through with the idea of striking the ball with the wrists still flexed.

Again it is exactly the same rhythmic action. As in the short pitch, the distance is determined by the length of the backswing, not by the force of the forward blow. The face is kept square after the ball is hit; the length of the follow-through should be about the same as the length of the backswing. Also, the left arm and the club should form a straight line at the finish, with the end of the shaft in the same position relative to the left forearm as it was at the address.

Figs. 44A, 44B, 44C. Technique for the chip shot. With the club held well down on the grip, the end of the shaft extends up behind the left wrist, as the broken lines show. It should still be there at the end of the stroke, as in B. When it is not, as in C, the stroke has been wrong.

If the end of the shaft moves away from the wrist, it means we have nicked the club head slightly and hit with it instead of swinging our hands through the ball.

The main problem with chip shots, as with putting, is distance, not direction. Most reasonably decent golfers will chip the ball on a good line toward the cup, and we have attempted to reinforce that accuracy by advising that the club be taken straight back from the ball, neither inside nor outside. If your chips are going consistently to the right, it is pretty good evidence that you are taking the club back inside, and if they are going to the left, you are taking the club back outside.

But distance is the problem. There are two ways of gauging distance. One is by picking out a spot on the green on which you want your ball to land, then hitting the ball so it will land there and roll on to die at the cup. This has the ad­vantage of being definite but it implies—nay, demands—an exact knowledge of how far the ball will roll when struck any of varying distances with any club from a wedge to a 4 or 5 iron. This is knowledge, it seems to us, that we might spend a lifetime learning, while we would still make mistakes because of the differences in the lie of the ball and the speed of the green.

The other and sounder method of tackling the distance problem is by instinct. If this seems too haphazard to be dignified by calling it a method, don't be too quick to con­demn it.

Archery and golf are a long way apart, it is true, but there is at least one helpful similarity—the problem of overshoot­ing or undershooting. In archery it is called elevation: going too high or too low. Archers attack this in two ways. Some use what is known as a "point of aim." They sight over the tip of the arrow to an object on the ground. Then they shoot and move this object nearer the target or farther from it until they have the exact distance which will, by sighting it, give them the right range.

The other attack is by instinct. By experience, by judg­ment of distance, by feel—by instinct—they place the arrow accurately without using an artificial point of aim. Naturally, a beginner doesn't have this instinct, but he develops it. And it becomes, with practice, very sharp. It is, in fact, the only way a field archer or a hunter, ever hits anything; if he is hunting bear, for instance, he can't approach the beast and put down a marker to use as a point of aim before he shoots.

A similar sharpness of instinct is developed by golfers. If you were to stand on the fringe of a green and, instead of chipping the ball, you were to pick it up in your hand and roll it toward the cup, you would do pretty well most of the time. Your instinct would dictate how fast you should roll it to make it reach the cup.

"But," you say, "I don't roll it with my hand. I have to strike it with a club."

Our answer is, "Ah, but that is exactly why we have told you to swing through the ball while your wrists are still flexed—so your hands will go through first. It is the speed of your hands which determines how far the ball will go. And it is much easier to control and regulate the speed of your hands than it is the speed of the club head. It is easier to think and feel how fast your hands are going, because they are a responsive part of you, than it is to think of how fast the head of the club is going."

So, let your instinct govern the speed of your hands, and think only of swinging with your hands, not of how fast you should make the club head go. Just as with the big shots, it is our misplaced preoccupation with the club head that gets us into trouble. Don't try to estimate how hard the club head should strike the ball. Instead, let your hands tell you how fast they should be moved. When you throw a ball to some­one, you do not stop and try to calculate how much effort you should put into the throw to make the ball reach him. You know instinctively; your arm "tells" you. It is exactly the same with the pitch shot and the chip.

What club for the chip? The question has stirred up many a discussion. Some say that the straight-faced irons, even up to the Nos. 3 and 4 should be used. Their argument is that the straighter the face, the less backspin it imparts to the ball, and therefore the distance of the roll is easier to judge. They also say that with the lofted clubs you never can tell exactly how much backspin you will get from one chip to the next, depending on the lie of the ball and the consistency of the green. This group generally visualizes the chip as just a long putt. This is all perfectly logical.

Another group prefers the No. 8 and No. 9, even the wedge. They point out that since these clubs are shorter, with more upright lies, they bring the player (and his hands) nearer the ball, that most players are more familiar with them and that their loft can be easily changed, within limits, by closing or opening the face.

Some claim that the club used should vary all the way from a No. 4 to a No. 9, depending on how long the chip shot is. Others would rather rely on one club for all shots, regardless of the distance.

All of which shows, if nothing else, that there is a dif­ference of opinion about the matter. It is our belief that the Nos. 5, 6, and 7 are the best for chipping in the long run. They have enough loft to raise the ball without trouble, yet not enough to impart the backspin that would seriously affect the running action. There is no reason to doubt tests which have shown that the greatest backspin is applied with a 5 iron. But this occurs when the ball is struck hard, for a full shot. The light impact for the chip imparts little spin.

We would use the 5, 6, and 7 as dictated by the length of the shot being played, and we recommend them as the chipping clubs for the beginner or for the more experienced player who is having trouble with this shot. We believe that the law of averages favors getting more chips closer to the hole with these clubs than with any others. However, if a good player is deadly using a 3 iron for all shots, or using a wedge, we would let him alone. That's the right club for him.

Putting

We have just remarked on the wide difference of opinion concerning the clubs to be used for chipping. That difference is as nothing to those which come up in practically any dis­cussion of putting—from the grip through the stance, the stroke, and the type of weapon itself.

We shall not attempt to go into all these ideas; they could fill a book by themselves. Nor shall we dwell at any great length on the general importance of putting. No one has to be a mental giant to appreciate that one-half the strokes taken in a theoretical par round of 72 are putts—two to a green. Yet 36 putts a round is not considered good putting by any means. This is because no one ever hits eighteen greens in par figures, but instead relies on chipping and short pitch shots to get close enough to get down in one putt on many holes. Hence, the person who cannot con­sistently hole the short putts and who frequently takes three on a green is in dire trouble. He finds it all but impossible to reduce his score, even though his long game improves.

On the other hand, a good putter with an erratic long game can reduce his score appreciably by straightening out his drives and fairway shots, this with practice and instruc­tion. This fellow will also win a great many matches against players who are longer off the tee and more consistent through the fairway, because of the sheer emotional impact on his opponents of his good putting. There is nothing more shattering to a player's morale than to be on the green in two shots and take three putts, while his opponent is on in three and down in one.

Putting is such an involved part of golf that generaliza­tions are dangerous. For instance, it is easy to say that dis­tance, rather than direction, is the main problem in putting. This certainly is true on long putts. But what about the short putts? From one foot to six feet few of us are going to be bothered by distance. The closer we are to the hole the easier it is to control the distance.

Putting is also such a personalized part of the game that anyone is rash indeed when he becomes dogmatic about method. To any such remark as "You can't do it that way," someone will produce a dozen very fine putters who do it exactly that way. It cannot be said of any really good, con­sistent putter that his form is wrong. For him it is right. In the philosophical sense, putting form is strictly pragmatic.

Over the long years that a segment of the human race has been "putting little balls into little holes with instru­ments singularly ill adapted to the purpose," as an Oxford don once put it, there have been changes in styles and techniques. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth cen­turies, for instance, players in Scotland and England gripped the putter very short. This meant they had to bend over very low. Why this was done we don't know, unless it was to expose less of themselves to the stiff winds of the British Isles.

Through the first three decades of the twentieth century styles were highly individualistic, even among the top play­ers. Bob Jones, for example, stood up quite straight, with his feet practically touching, and gripped the putter at the end of the shaft. During the same period Walter Hagen putted from a decided crouch, with feet spread wide apart. Jim Barnes, a tall, thin man who won both the British and American Open championships, took a very short grip and bent over much more than Hagen, although he was several inches taller. Then there were Horton Smith, Paul Runyan, and Johnny Farrell. Although of decidedly different builds, and using different techniques, all were superb on the greens.

Because of these radical differences, it is often said that great putters are born, not made. There is some truth in this. There are, or surely appear to be, certain individuals with senses of touch, judgment, and control and a general aptitude for getting the ball into the hole which excel those of most mortals. And they do not have to be great or even good players to possess this faculty. Almost every club has one or two of them.

At the same time there is no gainsaying the fact that a poor or very ordinary putter can make himself into a reasonably good one by practice and an appreciation of fun­damental principles. It is a fact, for example, that the putting of the American touring pros has greatly improved over the years. Competition on the PGA circuit is so keen, and the standard of play is so high, that those who play the tour con­sistently simply have to be good putters or quit. Practically all of them are so good, in fact, that it is impossible now to single out any one of them and say, as we could of Smith or Runyan in their day, "He is the best."

Why are so many so good? Because, for one thing, they have given more thought to putting than to any other de­partment of the game. They have theorized more and tested their theories and experiments on such a large scale that out of the great laboratory of the circuit have come certain undeniable truths.

One of these is that putting never can be made a com­pletely "mechanical" action. We put this question to Horton Smith one time, and he, one of the greatest putters of all time, replied at some length:

"No, it never can be entirely mechanical, because we human beings have nerves and emotions. We never will have such complete control of our muscles that we will be able to set the putter in motion and let it make the stroke itself, automatically, so to speak.

"But I do believe that the best putting is a combination of the mechanical and of touch. The closer we can get to the mechanical stroke while still controlling it with our minds and muscles, the better we will be. I know that in my own case it was definitely a combination of the two, working as close as I could get them.

"There have been great putters, a few, who have worked entirely by touch. I've heard that... [Chapter Incomplete]

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